Abstract / DOI
Mediated Immediateness: The Church as a Link between God and Man. Ever since Schleiermacher there is a supposed basic difference between Catholics and Protestants, providing the cause for all differences in teaching. In reference to Luthers understanding of freedom this basic difference is located in the Immediateness of Man towards God, being a result of the Protestant priority on justification. The Catholic understanding is that of the Church’s mediation of salvation. Following the theology of the Catholic Tübingen School in the 19th century this article develops the concept of Mediated Immediateness. The Church is not an interferring entity between God and Man, but through the proclamation of the Gospel and the sacraments the Church mediates Man’s immediateness to God. The article verifies the capacity of this theory by analyzing Luther’s understanding of Scripture and Freedom.